About Us

In a career spanning over 20 years, Alison has worked with diverse client groups in public and private practice across a variety of settings including health, education, rehabilitation and disability support. She has worked in the city and country, developing the communication skills of children and adults with speech, language and learning challenges.

She is the mother of three beautiful girls and understands the pressure we are under as parents to set our children up for success in learning. Alison is so passionate about education and learning that she home educated her children for several years, leading each one along their individual learning journey. Alison understands that every child is unique and must be engaged as an individual in order to achieve the best possible development outcomes.

Within the adult field, Alison has worked in acute care, rehabilitation and aged care facilities, assessing and treating swallowing and communication difficulties.

Newcastle Speech Pathology is committed to providing the very best individual support and programming for each client. We see ourselves as part of a team, working towards your communication and literacy success. We are registered providers of disability supports under the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIS) and panel providers for the Better Start initiative and Helping Children with Autism package.

More on our Philosophy

Newcastle Speech Pathology, owned and operated by Alison McDonald, is a small, personalised practice. Alison is committed to maintaining her status as a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, a title earned through her commitment to ongoing professional development, and granted by our professional association, Speech Pathology Australia.

As a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist, Alison operates within the recommended guidelines for the latest evidence based practices within Speech Pathology. She loves learning and enjoys the challenge of making evidence based research a part of her daily clinical practice.

Newcastle Speech Pathology is committed to providing assessment and intervention services which are tailored specifically to the needs of each individual client and their family. Our goal is to identify client strengths and assist them developing skills within their area of need. Alison believes in a team approach to intervention and whenever possible, loves to involve the client’s family, carers, educators and medical team.

Certified Practising Speech Pathologist

Emilia joined our team last year as one of our Certified Practising Speech Pathologists. Experienced with both paediatric and adult clients, Emilia is trained in a whole range of specific therapy programs. Some of her specialisations include: -Lidcombe Program (A behavioural treatment for young children who stutter) -LSVT LOUD® Treatment Lee Silverman Voice Treatment […]

Media & Marketing

Madeleine is into all things creative, and loves writing content and coming up with fun ideas to share across Newcastle Speech Pathology’s social media pages. When she’s not working on the reception desk or running the media side of things, you might find her watercolour-painting, baking yummy desserts, practising her Spanish, or playing soccer […]

Business Manager

Barista, bookkeeper, Business Manager and IT-guy, Ashley loves his many roles within Newcastle Speech Pathology. When he’s not looking for our next clinic location or taking bookings on the phones, he can be found doing battle with computers and practising his latte art on coffees for the team.

Certified Practising Speech Pathologist

We’re delighted to have Kaitlin on our team. She is the busy mother of one, with another on the way very soon! When Kaitlin gets some (rare) down-time, she can be found playing hockey, catching up with friends, relaxing with a cup of tea and a good TV show, or enjoying an undisturbed meal […]

Certified Practising Speech Pathologist

Newcastle Speech Pathology is very excited to have Bec as part of our team. Bec grew up in an Army family, and has lived in cities and towns all over Australia. She moved to Newcastle to complete her schooling and went on to complete a degree in Speech Pathology at Newcastle University. She fell in […]

Principal Speech Pathologist

Alison is a graduate of Flinders University in South Australia. After working within the Community Health and hospital setting in country S.A., she moved to Western Australia where she continued with Community Health until launching her first private practice. Married to an adventuring sea farer has seen Alison and her family spend several years on […]